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Writer resources

The National Association of Science Writers offers a wide array of resources to the science writing community, many of which do not require NASW membership. In addition, NASW members can take advantage of tools (marked with an asterisk below) that can help them improve their standing in the science writing marketplace. For more information on NASW membership, see our page on the benefits of NASW membership

Who we are

The largest organization devoted to the professional interests of science writers, the National Association of Science Writers fosters "the dissemination of accurate information regarding science through all media normally devoted to informing the public." Its 2,250 members include science writers and editors, and science-writing educators and students.

Featured articles

The National Academy of Sciences has two new reports on proposals to combat climate change, and Tabitha M. Powledge says that the idea isn't winning much support: "Some reject geoengineering after thoughtful consideration, and others reject it for being, as one of the report authors said at Slate, 'wildly, utterly, howlingly barking mad.'" Also, a proposal to rebrand chronic fatigue syndrome, and a nevermind (maybe) on those allegedly counterfeit herbal supplements.

Book publicist Dan Blank offers tips for writers who want to promote their work via email newsletters: "Email, in its most basic form, is a letter from one person to another. Whether you write to a list of 10 people or 100,000, each person reads it alone, and reads your letter as if you wrote it just for them," he writes. "I encourage people to share what they are enthusiastic about. It can be whittled down to a simple prompt: 'What were you excited about this week?'"

Attorney Helen Sedwick tries to clear up some misconceptions about the tax laws that distinguish between writing as a business and writing as a hobby: "You may have heard the old rule that a business is considered a hobby unless it shows a profit for three out of five years. In practice, the IRS is not as strict as the three-out-of-five-year rule. If you demonstrate you have a serious intent to operate a business at a profit, the IRS will generally give you some slack."

NASW members are invited to apply for travel grants to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting June 28-July 3 in Lindau, Germany. Apply by March 1, 2015, for the opportunity to connect with 60+ Nobel Laureates in physiology & medicine, physics, and chemistry and over 600 young researchers from 80 countries.

Felix Salmon imparts a bleak view of journalism's future to hopeful neophytes: "Life is not good for journalists. And while a couple of years ago I harbored hopes that things might improve, those hopes have now pretty much evaporated. Things are not only bad; they’re going to get worse." Ezra Klein rebuts: "The Death of Journalism is really a kind of disruptive change in journalism, and that's bad for incumbents, but you're not an incumbent."

Joel Achenbach writes about why some educated people reject science on everything from fluoridation to climate change: "The 'science communication problem,' as it’s blandly called by the scientists who study it, has yielded abundant new research into how people decide what to believe — and why they so often don’t accept the scientific consensus." One factor: "People tend to use scientific knowledge to reinforce beliefs that have already been shaped by their worldview."

News that a sequel will be published prompts Roy Peter Clark to analyze the tense wait for the jury's verdict in To Kill A Mockingbird: "Just when it feels the waiting will go on forever the clerk says, '"This court will come to order," in a voice that rang with authority, and the heads below us jerked up.' The suspense that expands over six pages is dispelled by action that occurs in less than two, in storytelling that is among the most powerful in American history."

The European Space Agency has now officially walked back last March's claim that the BICEP2 telescope had found evidence of the universe's early, rapid expansion, but Tabitha M. Powledge warns against making too much of that news: "It is crucial, essential, mandatory to understand that the new analysis does NOT show that the inflation idea is wrong, despite some headlines to that effect. Only that the BICEP2 data didn’t prove it. Inflation theory is still alive and well."

Publications

The best guide for teaching and learning effective science writing, this second edition of A Field Guide for Science Writers improves on the classic first edition with a wider range of topics, a new slate of writers, and an up-to-date exploration of the most stimulating and challenging issues in science.

In this collection of essays, nationally known science writers Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson, and Robin Marantz Henig assemble the best science writers working today to explain what they do and how to do it well.